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Christianity in the Nesarian Empire
The very first evidence of Christians in the Nesarian Empire dates to the 1320s, when a group of Christian refugees seeking protection from Islamic persecution settled in eastern Estemoria. The church these people belonged to is not known, but they are generally assumed to have been Nestorians. However, Christianity only became a major movement after 1453 when Greek intellectuals and religious figures were offered refuge by the Emperor after Constantinople fell to the Turks. The Greeks began preaching their faith to the Imperial people, and they were soon joined by a wave of Russian missionaries. The faith spread quickly, first in Avamoria and Nesaria but soon in Estemoria, Draconia and southern Drazak. An official church was established in the Empire in 1466, which was made autocephalous and declared a Patriarchate simultaneously in 1683. By the 1550s, it is estimated that just under half the population were Christian, leading Emperor Athdus V to enact anti-Christian legislation to prevent it spreading further. The construction of new churches was banned, existing churches were subject to close scrutiny by the Imperial Inquisition, Christians were barred from being military officers, politicians or civil servants, and - most egregiously of all - a fine was imposed for converting to Christianity and the property of Christians was always inherited by the eldest non-Christian heir, regardless of what was written in the will. The Christian population starkly dropped to an estimated 15% by 1600, although many Christians continued to practice their faith in secret, meaning the actual number was likely higher. Some Christians were violently targeted by mobs, and it is hotly debated to this day as to whether these were totally independent actors or whether the Imperial state was complicit in the violence. The anti-Christian legislation was entirely revoked in 1679, being the very first act of the newly coronated Empress Avotea I, the first and only Christian ruler of the Empire, who was later canonised as a saint by the Orthodox Church. Empress Avotea was also responsible for leading the movement to make the Nesarian church autocephalous and to have it named a Patriarchate rather than a mere Church. The Christian population grew once again, and it has remained between 20% and 30% ever since. As of 2019, approximately 21% of the population is Christian, and the most Christian country in the Empire is Estemoria at 37%. In some areas, Elvetan and Christian tradition merged to form the syncretic faith known as Christelvetism, or Cristelveta. Although Christelvetans see both Elvetans and Christians as their spiritual brothers, both Elvetans and Christians fiercely denounce Christelvetism. Elvic Rite The overwhelming majority of Christians in the Empire are (and have always been) Eastern Orthodox. In the early years of Christianity in the Empire, the churches followed the Byzantine rite as the missionaries were all Greek and Russian in origin, but as more and more natives became priests, the Byzantine rite synthesised with Elvic traditions to form what became known as the Elvic rite, which was recognised as a legitimate rite at the Synod of Amoria in 1471. This Elvic rite was the form of the faith that was then spread to the rest of the Empire, so even those Christians in the Empire who do not come from Elvic civilisation almost always follow the Elvic rite. Many aspects of the Elvic rite derive from old Elvetan traditions, but Imperial theologians were successfully able to argue at the Synod of Amoria that, despite being pagan in origin, these traditions did not imply any kind of pagan worship, and that synthesising the Elvetan traditions with Christian ones was not an issue (as long as it did not change the theology) because many Elvetan practices were already similar to Christian ones. They pointed to earlier examples of native traditions synthesising with Christian beliefs to argue that the Elvic rite was assimilation ''and not ''syncretism. The most immediately obvious difference between the Elvic rite and other rites is the art style of the icons. In broad terms it is similar to the Byzantine art style, but the Elvic art style often includes more detail and more realistic anatomy, as well as more vibrant and saturated colours. The Elvic style of icons also usually makes use of patterned rather than plain gold backgrounds. The Elvic rite uses a translated form of Byzantine liturgy (in particular the liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom) as the basis for its liturgy, but it incorporates elements developed by native Imperial people, many of which were inspired by Elvetan liturgical worship. They also use the style of chanting that had been adopted in Elvetan liturgical worship since the 12th century AD, known as Elvic chant, which is predominantly - but not entirely - syllabic (i.e. one note per syllable rather than multiple notes per syllable), generally either homophonic or polyphonic, and generally both more melodically and rhythmically complex - generally speaking, more "musical" - than most other types of chant, more comparable to singing than chanting. Other features of the Elvic rite include more heavily watered-down sacramental wine, and the practice of pouring sacramental wine into individual cups rather than taking it from a spoon with the bread. These are derived from ancient Elvic traditions that, while some criticise as being pagan in origin, do not interfere with the Eucharist and so they are accepted. For example, Elveta has a stricter view on alcohol than Christianity which has resulted in a widespread negative attitude towards it, and it is a general very old practice to not drink from the same cup or eat from the same spoon as others. Athdus the Saint? Many outsiders mistake the canonisation of Emperor Athdus III as a saint by the Patriarchate of Nesaria as a minor and fairly trivial issue, but this is not the case. Many from outside the Empire also mistake the canonisation as a simple error that can be easily reversed, but again, this is not the case. Although Athdus is not recognised as a saint anywhere outside of the Patriarchate of Nesaria, to suggest that Athdus is not a saint to an Imperial Christian is usually reacted to in the same manner as blasphemy. Particularly amongst the Elvic people and especially amongst the Nesarians, Athdus is seen as the greatest man whoever lived besides Christ and the Theotokos, by no means a person without sin but one who always fought for what he knew to be right, who treated his worst enemies with chivalry, who acted benevolently to his conquered subjects, who was always humble and charitable despite being the most powerful man in the known world, and who led the effort to save the world from the Xaenis swarm. Although this view of him is certainly a romanticised version of the truth, and it brushes over the suffering his wars caused, this is how he is seen. This combined with several pious Imperial people (monastics, priests and laity alike) having visions - or at least, claiming to have them - of Athdus in heaven, all of which contain the same details despite being received independently, confirm to the Imperial Christians that Athdus had the gospel revealed to him after his passing, and he subsequently embraced it, leading to his sainthood. To the Imperial Christians, there is no reason why Athdus should ''not ''be a saint. To the rest of the Christian world, though, the canonisation of Athdus is well-intentioned but misguided human error at best and crypto-paganism at worst. The Orthodox world is on the whole more understanding of it than the non-Orthodox world, but even amongst them there is often staunch opposition. For whatever reason, the Church of Serbia and Patriarchate of Bulgaria have always been the most vocal opponents of Athdus' canonisation. The line that has been followed by many of the Patriarchs, though, is denouncing Athdus' canonisation but ultimately making no move to pressure the Patriarchate of Nesaria to revoke it, as the last time this was attempted it nearly caused a schism and caused nothing but resentment on either side. Dress of Priests The dress of the priests of the Elvic rite is inspired predominantly by Elvetan priests. The non-liturgical clerical clothing is similar to but still distinct from its counterparts elsewhere, however the liturgical vestments differ substantially. For their non-liturgical clothing, Elvic rite priests and monastics usually wear black shirt and trousers with a thin black coat on top that reaches to the knees, fastened at the front typically with bronze buttons for priests and steel buttons for monks, atop which a black leather belt is worn, fastened with a bronze buckle for priests and a steel buckle for monks. The nuns wear a black dress that reaches to the ankles with a black leather belt fastened with a steel buckle, and use white close-fitting veils tucked in underneath their robes, essentially the same as Nakkalite veils, similar to Islamic hijabs, rather than the black apostolnik/epimandylion found in other Orthodox churches. Priests, monks and nuns all wear socks with black leather boots. The height of these boots is variable, but may not come up further than halfway up the calf. The liturgical vestments of Elvic rite priests differ substantially from their counterparts elsewhere, as they are chiefly inspired by Elvetan priests - who had established a regular and somewhat elaborate manner of dress by the time of Christianity's arrival - and not comparable Christian ones. Since the vestments are made up of several layers, they will be described in this format, from innermost layer to outermost. * The innermost layer is the black shirt and trousers of the non-liturgical dress, with the coat not worn and set aside. All the parts of the liturgical dress are worn on top of the non-liturgical dress. * Atop the shirt is a close-fitting white doublet. For deacons and priests this is unpatterned, but bishops have small gold-coloured crosses embroidered in a regular pattern. * Atop the doublet is a sleeveless stiff cloth jerkin, fastened with bronze buttons (or silver-gilt buttons for bishops). For deacons, this is plain red, but priests have it red with small gold crosses embroided in a regular pattern. Bishops have purple jerkins with gold crosses. During Lent, the background colour is replaced with black for deacons, priests and bishops and the gold crosses are replaced by red ones. For priests this is merely gold-coloured thread, but bishops have actual goldwork thread. * Black gloves are worn whenever handling the sacramental bread and wine, regardless of whether it has been consecrated or not. These are not worn at other times, unless it is cold inside the church. * Atop the jerkin is a fairly substantial cape that trails down to the knees, bearing the same colour and pattern as the jerkin, and fastened with a bronze chain across the collarbones. * The Elvic rite version of the bishop's mitre mimics the relatively simple Imperial Crown. It is a simple silver-gilt headband with an oval-shaped icon of Christ at the front. The Patriarch's mitre also sports a cross on top of the icon. * The Patriarch also wears a ceremonial sword at their side, which is normally kept sheathed during the liturgy unless the Empire is at war, in which case the Patriarch will draw the sword and offer it up to the heavens while praying for the soldiers of the Empire. The sword is also used for the knighting of Christian Imperial Knights. When attending liturgy, both monks and nuns who have progressed beyond the rank of novice wear a stiff cloth jerkin atop their coat (for monks) or dress (for nuns), similar to the one worn as part of the liturgical vestments by priests. Rassophores wear black jerkins, and both stavrophores and great schema monastics wear black jerkins with dark red crosses, although great schema monastics wear the jerkin at all times, not just in liturgy, and additionally they wear an analavos embroidered with dark red thread in the same manner as the Greek and Slavonic analavos. Churches Elvic rite churches are based on Elvetan temples. Much like Elvetan temples, they come in both the Round and Long style (see the Elveta page for more information on what these are), although the Long style is almost always modified to take the form of a cross rather than a simple rectangle. They share essentially the same features, with the narthex taking the place of the entrance hall and a row of icons and shrines to saints taking the place of the shrines to the Gods. The Open Altar is replaced by a simple speaking platform, whereas the Closed Altar is the main altar of the church, and the screen separating the sanctuary from the rest of the church forms the iconostasis. Elvic rite churches do not have a Holy Garden, as no such concept exists in Christianity, but they are almost always accompanied by gardens. The most striking trait that differentiates Elvic rite churches from other churches is the omnipresence of plants; flowers, bushes, creeping vines and even trees grow within the churches, and (particularly in Avamoria) they also often contain fountains, which are blessed by the priests before every service so that the water may be holy water. In the churches that contain fountains, the faithful are free to take a cup of the water and drink it, but they are not permitted to drink straight out of the fountain or dip their bodies in it, for obvious health reasons. The sheer amount of plants present in Elvic rite churches initially caused discomfort amongst the rest of the Church, as some saw it to be dangerously close to the old pagan ways of nature-worship and the deeply heretical belief of the "economy of energy" that is central to Elveta. However, it was concluded at the Synod of Amoria that such practices were perfectly legitimate, and the critics were merely over-reacting. Bowing The Elvic rite also has a different form of bowing to other Orthodox churches; while simple bows are performed to the priest and while making the sign of the cross like in other rites, those following the Elvic rite have a different method for venerating icons. They will drop to the left knee, rest their left arm on it and bow the head while making the sign of the cross with the right hand, rather than the Byzantine practice of bowing before an icon and kissing it. This practice comes from Elvetan tradition, where the faithful will kneel before the Gods to signify their pledge of allegiance to the divine. In a similar vein, the Elvic rite does not make use of any form of full prostration, instead using a full earth-low bow (sometimes called a zemnoy poklon) in its place, where the bower kneels down and rests their hands on the floor but does not fully lie prone. Christ and the Harrowing of Hell It is often said that Latin tradition focusses on Christ the Victim, and Greek tradition focusses on Christ the Victor. Whilst Elvic tradition certainly sees Christ as a victor, they go a step further, naming Him as Christ the Warrior-King, leading the fight against the devil and the forces of death. It is very likely that this interpretation comes from merging Christ with the Elvetan deities of King Yakela and Akras, in the same way that traits of Jakras shine through in the Father. Due to this, the Virgin Mary (Yediso Maria) is often referred to as the Queen Mother (Retia Itaei) or Queen Mary, Mother of God (Retia Maria, Itaei vi Asta) in addition to the Theotokos or God-Bearer (Astamanicor). Some elmenents of the deity Queen Itaena were assimilated into the Elvic depiction of the Virgin Mary in the same way that King Yakela and Akras assimilated into Christ. Christ is often depicted with armour and sometimes with a sword or spear, vaguely imitating depictions of the King Yakela and Akras - although importantly all the fabric is not red, the traditional Elvetan colour of war, but white, the colour associated with Heaven in Christian tradition. The depiction of the fight between good and evil as a war is taken quite literally in Elvic tradition. Imperial Christians put particular emphasis on the event of the Harrowing of Hell, which is seen as the point where Christ became truly victorious and defeated death forever. However, unlike most other traditions, the Harrowing of Hell is depicted in Elvic tradition as a literal battle between an Angelic army led by Christ against the forces of Hell led by Satan, where the demonic legions were slaughtered and routed, and Satan himself was forced to flee the field, after which Christ raised up the righteous into Heaven. This may have been influenced by the old Elvetan belief of the War for Heaven. Theologians in other Orthodox Churches of a more puritanical mind see this as bordering on heresy, but most accept it as simply a different interpretation of a key event; since the actual outcome and meaning of the events is the same, most do not see it as heresy. At the celebration of the Harrowing of Hell at Easter, the event is re-enacted by the faithful at the larger churches. Mounted soldiers in armour, importantly with full helms covering their faces - Imperial Knights, if they can be found - "kill" a battle-line of mannequins dressed up as demons in a great charge with lances, performed outside the church and usually taking place after the liturgy is complete. This particular event is often accompanied by a jousting competition. At the culmination of the liturgy itself, a similarly armoured soldier will decapitate a mannequin dressed as a demon with an axe, proceeding to raise up the severed head at which the congregation cheers and shouts "Marati!" ("Victory!") three times. A great feast then takes place, to which "all the saints are invited"; food and wine is left aside "for the saints", which is buried underground (in the graveyard, if possible) after the feast is finished. Again, this is sometimes denounced by the more puritanical types as bordering on heresy and paganism. Saints Christian Saints from the Empire are as follows (in chronological order): * Saint Athdus the Great (disputed; only recognised within the Patriarchate of Nesaria) * Saint Avotea, Equal-to-the-Apostles Noble Pagans The Patriarchate of Nesaria maintains a much stronger tradition of respecting so-called Noble Pagans than most churches - that is, pagans living in the Empire before the arrival of Christianity who are recognised as virtuous and who certainly embraced the Gospel after death and were welcomed into Heaven. Some pagans who lived after the arrival of Christianity are also among the ranks of the Noble Pagans, but there are few of these and their recognition is neither official nor widespread. The Noble Pagans are not venerated in the same way as the Saints, as being a Noble Pagan is more to do with recognition of great virtue. Despite venerating Noble Pagans and praying to them being considered a heretical practices, a large portion of Imperial Christians do it anyway. Paintings of Noble Pagans in the style of icons are produced, although importantly these are not icons and veneration of them is prohibited. The most notable pre-Christian Noble Pagans are as follows (in chronological order): * Elvet (Elvetan prophet) * Bacaster (Elvetan prophet) * Athdus (Elvetan prophet) * Matiro (Kadintoan prophet, only really recognised by Osdarthians) * King Mathados the Founder * Queen Eliasa Iivitas * King Faltas II * Atsoku Mushimo (Kanidintoan preacher) * Raeshu Sintijo * Emperor Athdus the Great (for those who do not recognise him as a Saint) * Great Queen Avemiri Simakha The most notable post-Christian Noble Pagans are as follows (in chronological order): * Inquisitor Stio Malos * Inquisitor Vesha Malos * Emperor Adrion I The Titans The problem of the veneration of the Titans - in particular, those that make up the Elvetan pantheon - is a long-standing one that, to some extent, continues to this day amongst the Elvic Christians. Most Elvic Christians recognise the Titans as Noble Pagans, and some even see them as saints or a type of angel. The former is seen as problematic at best, and the latter is denounced as syncretism and paganism by the international Christian community. As well as often being objected on the grounds that it is a pagan practice - or dangerously close to paganism - the problem of venerating the Titans also comes down to a debate as to whether the Titans possessed souls in the same way that people do. Since Titans are not mentioned anywhere in Scripture or Tradition (some have made a connection between the Titans and the Nephilim, but this is rejected by the vast majority of theologians and common believers), this question is exceedingly difficult to answer, and will likely never be conclusively answered in this world.